Jack Del Rio was at home in New Orleans on Nov. 2 when his phone began filling up with text messages.
“Is coach Fox OK?” was the gist of all of them.
Del Rio, in his second season as Broncos defensive coordinator, had no idea what people were talking about. The Broncos were on their bye week and Del Rio figured his boss, head coach John Fox, was spending time with family in North Carolina.
“That’s when I texted him and said, ‘Is everything all right?’ ” Del Rio recalled Wednesday. “He shoots back, ‘Yeah, everything’s good. I’ve got to get a couple of tests done, but everything will be all right.’ He totally downplayed it.”
Everything was not quite as good as Fox portrayed it. He had trouble breathing while playing golf and ended up needing an emergency aortic valve replacement. Del Rio took over as interim head coach with Fox out, and wound up coaching the team for four weeks.
The Broncos went 3-1 during the stretch, beating the division-rival Chiefs twice and losing only in overtime to the Patriots. It was a defining stretch for these Broncos on their road to Super Bowl XLVIII and Sunday’s game with the Seahawks.
“Jack Del Rio was awesome for us during that time,” quarterback Peyton Manning said. “You don’t make comparisons, but you’ve seen other [situations like this]. The New Orleans Saints lost Sean Payton and that transition didn’t go as smooth. The Colts lost Chuck Pagano. Bruce Arians stepped in and did a great job. I think it’s important to have the right guy to fill in, in case that crisis happens. We were lucky that we did have a guy that had been a head coach for [nine] years — a coach that I’ve had a number of battles against, that I have great respect for.”
Del Rio had spent nine seasons as the head coach of the Jaguars, and said he slipped right back into the routine of being the top coach.
“A couple of my buddies said, ‘Yeah, it’s just like riding a bike.’ I said, ‘Yeah, but this is a really good bike ,’ ” he said.
The 50-year-old former Pro Bowl linebacker knew well enough not to mess with Manning and the offense too much. He still concentrated on defense, but now had a new set of duties during the week and on gameday.
“I don’t know that there was a tough part other than rolling up my sleeves and getting to work,” he said. “I knew it would be a collective effort. I didn’t tinker with anything on the offense or special teams. Basically, we understood what we had to do. I pulled things together and led it, but the blueprint was in place. So, from my standpoint, I put my own personal touch on how I presented things to the team, did it in my own way, in my own style. I made decisions by reflecting on the experience that I’ve had. I didn’t sit and try to channel John Fox in my head, I just trusted my gut and did the things that I believed gave us the best chance to win.”
Manning said Del Rio was respectful to always remember it was Fox’s team, but at the same time he added his own touch.
“For those four weeks, he was going to be the head coach the way he coached,” Manning said. “He ran a little bit of a different team meeting and added some things to practice — some situations that we have continued to do since coach Fox returned. Just a, ‘Hey, this is the score of the game. Offense you have the ball and need a first down to win it. Let’s go.’ You’re kind of on your toes, and [he] wasn’t just coaching the defense at that point.”